Purchased for $1.648 million in February of 2015, the two-bedroom, two-bath corner unit #7C atop the “Amero” at 1501 Filbert Street, on the border of Cow Hollow and Russian Hill, returned to the market listed for $1.75 million this past July, a sale at which would have represented total appreciation of 6.2 percent for the “rarely available penthouse” unit over the past four years.

The 1,040-square-foot unit features wide-plank hardwood floors, “a dramatic open floor plan featuring nearly floor to ceiling glass and outlooks onto Russian Hill and the Bay,” a modern kitchen with high-end finishes and a “spa-like bathroom with sumptuous marble and double vanity sinks,” along with deeded parking in the building’s garage, access to a rooftop terrace with “dual BBQ’s, [an] outdoor dining area and [an] outdoor lounge with [a] linear gas fire pit” and HOA dues of $688 per month.

And after two months on the market, 1501 Filbert #7C has just been listed anew with an official “1” day on the market and a newly reduced list price of $1.695 million, a sale at which would now represent total appreciation of 2.9 percent for the penthouse unit since the first quarter of 2015 on an apples-to-apples, versus “median price,” basis.

Comments from Plugged-In Readers

As a resident and planner, I kind of want Van Ness residential density to keep increasing. I like that large condo and rental buildings are going in up and down Van Ness. Someday this should have really fast and reliable public transit (I want to believe!).

But… I tend to think that “luxury living” Van Ness is not. I wonder if planning could offer some sort of incentives to boost density and height to make this corridor more accessible to “middle class living?”

IIRC 3 BA counties lost population or were flat in the most recent YOY numbers. All 3 were North Bay counties so, to the extent that demand is falling because of falling population, it is not surprising to see price declines in Marin and the greater North Bay.

Two months ago when this place was first listed, Juul had a $38B valuation. Four days ago, they got a letter from the FDA telling them to stop marketing their product as a smoking cessation aid without proof that it works, and yesterday, Trump gave the FDA the go ahead to ban all of their flavors *except* those geared towards smoking cessation, namely, all the flavors anyone actually liked.

This leaves them with a product that no one likes that they aren’t allowed to market, and yesterday, the FDA said if removing all the flavors other than tobacco doesn’t get kids to stop, they are going to pull the plug on the entire operation (see name link).

So we have Uber and Lyft being driven off a cliff by the California Legislature, and Juul having their business sent up in smoke from the feds. Valuations for condos and homes will adjust accordingly.

“As I was settling in to pair with the outgoing engineer I would have replaced, one of the interviewers left the conference room, grabbed his snowboard, and proceeded to jump with it from desk to desk. [He was] laughing maniacally, knocking people’s keyboards and mice off their tables. [The other employees] all just passively pushed away from their desks, then continued working once he’d jumped their desks. I later learned he was their star Javascript engineer. It was unicorn culture at its best. I left early and told them it was not a good fit.” —Chris, engineer (Unicorn culture at its best)

Well to be fair, (many) years ago I had an interview at a non-tech firm, and during the interview people came in and started taking the furniture out…so unicorns may be weirder, but they’re also more liquid.

The Juul employees already got paid out, Tipster. Going forward perhaps factor that disinformation works best if it is timely. Just a thought. As for Uber and Lyft they raised a lot of capital locally. Full stop, really, as that’s as far as it needs to go as far as SF real estate, which always trades in small margins in any market.

And by the way, since you are once again addressing yours truly even though someone else is spouting pure nonsense, do feel free to correct Tipster and similar poster’s egregious disinformation on occasion. I can’t always do your job for you. Thanks in advance.

The $10,000 deduction cap on State and Local Taxes that the Republican tax code change instituted in 2018 affected buyers’ calculus when determining what they can afford. My family is losing over $4000/year from that change.

The final picture above shows a really killer roof deck; I’m guessing they throw off-the-chain parties there on the weekends and if I had the money I’d buy this unit without regard to the long term capital gain prospects and never think about some SFH in Marin. For that reason I can’t believe that it’s been on the market for two months. Confirms that I don’t “know the market”.

I wonder if any footfalls on the roof deck can be heard from the top floor units. Even in concrete buildings, it could be a problem with hard surfaces, though not as much as with wood framed structures. I wish someone could come up with a complete soundproofing solution for dense urban living. 🙂

You are correct. The roof deck is very rarely used, aside from the occasional BBQ or 4th of July party, which is usually a bust because of the fog. No one is throwing “off-the-chain” parties. The building nice, the units tend to be a bit long and narrow, and of course, the ongoing construction on Van Ness is a pain, but all in all it is good place to live.